


Green Arrow: Midnight Patrol

by SmartCoffee



Category: Justice League - All Media Types
Genre: Crime Fighting, F/M, Star City
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-07 17:28:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16412783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmartCoffee/pseuds/SmartCoffee
Summary: Fans of a new movie movie camped outside for the midnight show. Prime-time for films is crime-time in Star City.





	1. Chapter 1

Fans of the new "Galaxy Troops" movie camped outside the box office for the midnight showing. Critics said the third installment in the franchise, "The Galaxy Troops: Rise of Evil," would make the studio a boatload of money.

A homeless man, Jeremy, sat outside the theater with two pieces of cardboard. One was a wide piece that he was sitting upon. He propped up the other one against his knee. A simple message said in black ink, "I am blind. Please help." He had an empty soup can to collect change.

Jeremy wore an old trenchcoat and a threadbare sweater. He was Irish like about a third of Star City were. He was not lying about being blind as a cheap ploy. A friend of his, also homeless, had written the sign. Jeremy traded him a couple of cigarettes for the sign.

After two hours of begging, he had collected a total of three dollars from three people. One was a harried mom of three that came to the city to buy a present for her oldest daughter. She had an aunt who went blind in her 80s.

The second was a music student at a community college. He remembered the year he spent on the streets with his guitar so he kind of knew what it was like.

The third was a stockbroker who worked at the Board of Trade downtown. Something about the beggar's face triggered a memory of his late father. The broker regretted that he failed to reconcile with him before he passed.

Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow, wasn't in costume tonight. He normally wore a dark green hooded two-piece outfit that looked like a modern version of what Robin Hood wore. He ditched the Robin Hood suit tonight because he wanted to patrol the movie opening and these sci-fi fans would be all over him otherwise. He had a button-down shirt and jeans covered by a long brown coat, with black workboots on his feet.

He saw Jeremy with the sign that said, "I am blind. Please help." A quick peek into the can showed the evening's take had been disappointing. Arrow had a keen eye for scams and could tell he legitimately needed help.

He said, "Hey pal, here's a twenty." That was unusually generous and Jeremy wondered who this was. He focused intently on the voice and tried to place it but did not recognize it.

"One more thing, I'll fix your sign for ya." Arrow picked up the sign and a pen from his pocket. He wrote a short sentence and then walked away.

Over the next hour, there was a strange transformation in Jeremy's luck. One person came by and dropped in a $5. Two minutes later, there was another. In ten minutes, ten people donated. By the time the movie let out, there was over $200 in the can.

Meanwhile, Green Arrow saw a guy in his mid-twenties threatening a young woman at the nearest street corner. The guy and the woman were about 10 feet apart.

"Bitch, better hand over that purse." As Arrow ran closer, he saw the chrome-plated revolver in the robber's hands.

She was terrified. Every nerve in her brain was telling her to run, but she could not move a muscle. Her skin grew hot and prickly.

"COME ON! I'll shoot you. Just gimme the purse." He was getting angry.

"You aren't going to shoot anybody," said Green Arrow. He had snuck behind the robber and was now within grabbing distance.

"Oh shit! No, no, I wasn't. . . it was just a joke."

Arrow wrapped his elbow around the robber's neck in a sleeper hold. The robber collapsed face-down. Arrow went over to the woman.

She asked, "Is he dead?"

He reassured her, "No, not at all. He'll wake up in an hour, maybe two. Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine. Thanks."

Green Arrow returned to the theater. He stood in front of Jeremy. He looked in the can and saw it was full of cash.

"Huh, that worked even better than I expected."

Hearing a familiar voice, Jeremy sat up."It's you. You have to tell me. What did you write on my sign?"

"Dinah? Honey? You up?" Arrow stepped into a modest bungalow that he shared with Dinah Lance.

Dinah got up from the couch and walked over to the door. Her eyes were half-closed and her hair was tangled. She was in a light blue camisole and gray sweatpants. "Yeah, I must've dozed off watching some dumb movie. What time is it?"

"About 1:30. I, uh, wanna tell you about something that happened." said Arrow

"Sure. Are you hurt?" Dinah asked, concerned.

"Nah, it's nothing like that. It's a cute story," said Arrow. He told her about his night and how he had tried to help the blind man. He left out the part about the woman who was robbed, figuring she didn't need to know about that. It was tricky deciding what to tell her and what to keep from her.

"Aww, so he made some money because of you? That's sweet. But what did you actually write on the sign?"

"It's a great movie, but I can't enjoy it."


	2. Tragedy in Cape Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The safari vacation had gone horribly awry. After seeing nothing but two antelopes and an elephant, Robert Queen decided to seek some adventure.

 

 

May 2nd, 1987 Capetown, South Africa

***  
"Take the shot, for the love of God, take the shot, Ollie!"

  
Ollie Queen was frozen. His words are stuck in his throat. His hands were trembling as he tried to steady his bow. The African sun was beating down on his back. Sweat trickled down his skin.

  
The lion roared as it plunged razor-sharp claws into Moira Queen. She tried to pull away from it as hard as she could, but all for naught. In seconds, her intestines were on the savannah floor.

  
"NO! NO! NO!" Ollie screamed, tears streaming down his pale face.  
The insatiable lion now began to tear into Robert Queen, pinning his right arm to the ground.  
"Ollie! Listen. I need you to pull the bow back and fire."  
"I can't. Dad, I can't." Paralyzed with fear, he struggled to summon the courage to act.  
"Son, this isn't ea. . ." Robert could no longer speak. Hungry and snarling, the lion raked a paw across the wealthy industrialist's throat.

  
Ollie Queen shrieked as he covered his face. He ran madly across the savannah, desperate to escape his parents' fate. A mile away, he took shelter in the park's infirmary tent.

  
The safari vacation had gone horribly awry. After seeing nothing but two antelopes and an elephant, Robert Queen decided to seek some adventure. While his handlers tried to find a decent cup of tea, he had escaped. He had commandeered a Jeep and sat his young family inside – himself, his devoted wife Moira, and his ten-year old son Oliver. A few too many viewings of his favorite animated movie, Robin Hood, inspired Oliver to take up the bow and arrow. Robert stashed a pistol in the glove compartment for security. But at the crucial moment, Oliver lacked the nerve to shoot and Robert's pistol sat in the closed compartment. Terrifying, vivid nightmares of this day would never cease to haunt Oliver Queen.

  
That was the day everything changed. His identity was transformed from the beloved son of two loving parents to an orphan. The tranquility of his previous nights gave way to nightmares, emotional outbursts, and chronic insomnia. The happiness and joy of his childhood was suddenly replaced with heavy burdens of self-hatred and guilt.

  
The law of the jungle did not just apply in Africa. That took years to learn. The law of the jungle held true in Manhattan boardrooms, in Los Angeles barrios, and on Indiana farms. People could fool you with nice manners or pleasant gestures. In reality, the rich wanted to get richer and the poor wanted to break the parts of the system screwing them over. One man, even one superhero, was almost powerless against such deep, widespread problems. But if you could pick people up when they fell down, if you could take the right side, and if you could do all that with a laugh, your heart might let you sleep.


End file.
